Priest Lake
Lake · Coolin, Idaho
Nineteen miles of water at 2,439 feet in the far north-west corner of Idaho, under the Selkirk Mountains and about eighty miles north-east of Spokane. It is 369 feet deep, and the largest lake trout ever caught in the United States came out of it in 1971 at fifty-seven and a half pounds. A two-and-a-half-mile channel called the Thorofare runs north from the top of it to Upper Priest Lake, which has no road to it at all - you reach the upper lake by boat or on foot, and that is the reason people who know this corner of the state prefer it to anywhere else.
314 Indian Creek Park Road, Coolin, Idaho, 83821, United States
The lake is open at all times. ⚠ THE SEASON IS THE WHOLE STORY THIS FAR NORTH: the state park units, the resorts, the marinas, the hire fleets and most campgrounds run roughly late May to late September and CLOSE for the winter, with a second and much smaller winter season for snowmobiling and skiing. AN IDAHO STATE PARK VEHICLE ENTRY FEE applies at the Indian Creek, Lionhead and Dickensheet units; the state annual passport is accepted. Camping is reserved through the Idaho state park service and LAKESIDE SITES GO MONTHS AHEAD FOR AUGUST. ⚠ UPPER PRIEST LAKE HAS NO ROAD ACCESS - it is reached by boat up the Thorofare channel or on foot. Mobile coverage is patchy to absent away from Coolin; fuel up before you arrive.